Let us open our Bibles today to Luke chapter 22. I want to read the first verse and then skip down to verse 7 and read through verse 13. Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And then verse seven. Then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare us a Passover that we may eat. And they said unto him, where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when you are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in. And you shall say unto the good men of the house, the master saith unto thee, where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished, there make ready. And they went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, if you notice in verse one, they both began on the same day. The Feast of the Passover was a feast that was observed one day, but the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it continued on for seven days. This feast was observed in the month of Abib, and that would be in March and April of our calendar. It was one of the three annual feasts that every male Israelite under the law was commanded to observe. In Galatians chapter four and verse four, we read, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, born into a Jewish family, and he was to observe the law. He was commanded to make these feasts, these three annual feasts. His first recorded words in the scripture, when he was 12 years of age, he was in Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph And that's when he said, wist thee not that I must be about my father's business. And his whole life was being about his father's business, that is, God's business of establishing a righteousness with which God could justify his chosen people. I have two parts to the message this morning. First of all, what was the Feast of Passover? What was the Feast of Passover? I would like for you, if you will, to turn back with me to the book of Exodus chapter 12. We'll just read about this. Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12, and beginning with verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats. and you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month. and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden it all with water, but roast with fire his head with his legs and with the pertinence thereof. And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. And thus shall you keep it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial. and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. And notice that last verse, verse 14. This day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast for an ordinance forever. The blood of the lamb was on the doorpost, and we know the Israelites, they were inside of the house, and they were eating the lamb with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. Well, once the Israelites came into the land of Canaan, We know God was delivering Israel from Egypt that night, but once they came into the land of Canaan, the promised land, then God chose a place where they were to observe this feast, and it was only to be observed in this one place, and that place turned out to be Jerusalem. That's where the Lord was when we read there in Luke chapter 22 and verse one. You might say or ask, how do Jews observe this feast today? This past week, I needed to speak with the insurance agent who is in New York City, and I called and got a recording saying they were closed for holiday. That was on Wednesday. I thought, what holiday is this? Well, it was Yom Kippur. Now Yom Kippur, it was the first day of Yom Kippur. And that is a feast, it's not one of the three annual feasts that they were commanded to observe. It was a feast that had to do with the Day of Atonement. But they've turned it into 10 days now. But the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Passover, they were connected together. When they eat today, they still observe, the Jews, they still observe the Passover feast, but they do it not with a whole lamb. It's very clear in the command that God gave to the nation of Israel. When they observed the feast of Passover, and it was to be a continual thing in their generations, there was to be a whole lamb. roasted upon the table. Now, if they have meat, the Jews today, there's different sects, of course, of the Jewish faith, but if they have meat, it will be the shank or the shoulder of a lamb. And they're very precise, it will be prepared to eat in some way where it cannot possibly resemble a sacrifice. In other words, the lamb, when God gave the command, the lamb was to be roasted with fire, and it was to be whole, and then they would eat of that lamb. Now, you know, The second temple in Jerusalem, the second temple was built when the Jews came back out of Babylon. They'd been in captivity for 70 years. The first temple was built by Solomon, and then we have the books of Nehemiah and Ezra when they came back into the land and built a temple. And they got kind of wore out, I guess, building that temple and gained slack in the work because it didn't seem to be as big and as great and as glorious as the temple that Solomon had built. And God, through the prophet Haggai, he told them that that temple that they were building would have more glory than the temple of Solomon. It wasn't in the gold, it wasn't in the size and the beautiful stones and all of that. But in this temple, the second temple would have more glory than that first temple is because into that temple, the second temple, the desire of all nations would come. Who is the desire of all nations? Remember the promise to Abraham was in thee, that is in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is the desire of all nations, the savior of the world. And he came to that second temple, and that gave more glory to that temple, but we know that temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. And from that time until today, they cannot sacrifice a lamb. They cannot observe the Passover as it was commanded to be observed. Why? Because they cannot sacrifice a lamb. There was only one place where that lamb could be sacrificed, and that was in Jerusalem, in the temple. Now we know there's a Muslim mosque on that temple mount today. And so God put an end. I'm just convinced as I can be, God put an end. to sacrificing there in that temple by allowing the Muslims to build their mosque there on that temple mount. Let's say once the command was throughout your generations, they were to keep that Passover feast. But when the, it was a type and it's a beautiful type and I'll mention that in just a few minutes. The Passover is a beautiful type a pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving work, yes. But once the type is fulfilled, the antitype has come, which is Christ, then that put an end to observing that Passover feast. Even Christ, the Apostle Paul said, even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Let me point out a few things here in this passage in Exodus that we've just read that picture to us Christ. First of all, in Exodus 12 and verse 15, God commanded concerning the Passover lamb that it had to be without blemish. They were to take the lamb on the 10th day of the month, and he wasn't to be sacrificed until the 14th day of the month. There's three days there they were observing the lamb to make sure there was not the slightest blemish upon him. And doesn't that picture to us the three years ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ when he was observed by the devils even. And they confessed, we know who thou art, thou holy one of God. And he could say, which of you convinceth me of sin? It had to be without blemish to be accepted. Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior, your Savior, if you know him today, is a holy Savior. He's holy because he's God Almighty, manifest in the flesh. This lamb had to be without blemish. If there was the slightest blemish, then the lamb could not serve as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. We serve a holy Savior, a holy Savior. The second thing I mention is here in Exodus 12, God's command about the Passover lamb, it was spoken of in the singular. I'm not going to ask you to turn back there, but if you would, in verse six, if you were looking there, think of there was a million people, at least a million people that came out of Egypt that night. How many homes do you think would have been in that million people? How many lambs had to be sacrificed that night? But yet when God gives the order, it's spoken of in the singular, it. It shall be slain between the evenings. Even the time, listen, even the time of the Sacrifice of this lamb is a time, three o'clock in the afternoon, when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross. Yes, it's a type, he was a type, the Passover lamb was a type of Christ. But once Christ has come, we don't continue. A few years ago, and I'm sure may still be going on, some of these so-called churches, Baptist churches, Protestant churches, they just want to have a Passover feast. I wouldn't participate in a Passover feast, would you? Well, to me that would be denying the truth that our Passover is in heaven. We don't go through that ceremony anymore. He's given us a memorial supper, right? And we are to observe it till he comes. Once he comes, we won't continue to eat at the Lord's table. We'll be eating at the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven, yes, for all eternity. We're not going to be eating bread and wine like we do at the Lord's table. Why? Because that comes to an end. He said, this do in remembrance of me until the Lord comes again. A third thing about this lamb, this Passover lamb in Exodus is the blood had to be applied. You say, well, that's very simple. Yes, it is. It's very simple, but very important, right? I mean, yes, they had to take the blood and take it to their houses and take that hyssop and put the blood on the doorposts at the lintel of the door. Why? Because when the angel of God passed through Egypt that night, in every house where there was no blood, the firstborn in that house was slain. Yes. It's not enough just to meet and sing about the blood. There's power, power in the blood. We love to sing these hymns about the blood of Christ saved by the blood. It's not enough to preach just about the blood either. I love to preach about the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanseth us from all sin. But the point I'm making is it's not enough just to hear about the blood, sing about the blood, preach about the blood. The blood must be applied. It must be applied. They had to apply that blood. You say, well, How do men apply the blood of Jesus Christ today? By faith. By faith. Sprinkle your hearts with the blood. Yes, by faith. He commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved. A person must believe, trust in the blood of Jesus Christ. The fourth and last thing about the blood there in Exodus, and there's many other things, but I just wanted to point these out. That lamb was roasted with fire. You know, fire in the scripture is a picture of judgment. And when the sins of God's people, and this is the way it reads in Isaiah chapter 53, God made to meet upon him the sins of his people. Somehow, God took all the sins and bundled, can you imagine? Can you imagine the bundle? All the sins of all of God's elect from all ages, they were all taken and God made them to meet upon Christ. And when they were placed upon him, he was found guilty. He was guilty. And he was judged, just like that lamb was roasted in the fire. So the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was upon the cross of Calvary, we know that he experienced the judgment of God for the sins of his people. There's no fire for God's people today. You know, people talk about purgatory. You know, a person dies and he's just not quite ready to go to heaven, so he goes into purgatory. And you've got to pay the priest, the church, to say Masses to get him out of purgatory. The Lord Jesus Christ experienced the fires of God's wrath for his people. And God's people will never be put into purgatory, never be punished for sin. We have to be careful, too, when something happens to us. It's common for people, I guess, who maybe don't know that much, they say, well, I guess God's punishing me for my sin. No, God punished your sins in Christ if you're one of his. Now his chastisement, that's something else. And a chastisement is because he loves you. You don't chasten someone else's child, you chasten your children. If they need chastening, why? Because you love them, you care for them. And yes, God chastens his children, all of us. If we are without chastisement, the scripture says we're illegitimate, we're not children of God. Yes, but we're not suffering because of our sins. Christ suffered for our sins. Chastisement is a teaching process, isn't it? If you never had any problems, or as soon as you had a problem, you went to the Lord immediately, and I hope we do, and you ask God for help, if he gave you that help immediately, you wouldn't spend near as much time in prayer with God. Why? Because once you got the answer, you'd forget about God and go on your way. God fellowships with his children, doesn't he? Communes with his children. And one of the ways he does that is in prayer. And so afflictions come, yes, chastisements come. And you know the scripture says he has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his son. And whatever it takes, that's going to be wonderful, isn't it? To be made like Christ. Now look back in Luke chapter 22. The second part of my message, so what is the feast of the Passover? Well, we've looked at that. Now, I want you to notice in verse 7 that Peter and John, actually in verse 8, our Lord told them, and he sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. When they asked where, they knew It would be in Jerusalem, because that's the only place it could be. That's where God had commanded that the Passover be observed. But when they asked where, they were talking about in whose house. They didn't have a house there. Peter and John, they didn't own a house there. The Lord Jesus Christ, he sure didn't have a house there. Remember, he told that one man who came and said, I'll follow you wherever you go. Well, the foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head. He didn't have a house there. Where? Well, the Lord said, when you come to Jerusalem, you're going to meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. We see some of his glory here when we think about this. Jesus knew the exact moment, the exact moment when this man would come and Peter and John would come and they would cross each other's path. He knew the exact time that the man would come with the pitcher of water and the exact time his disciples would arrive there so that they would see this man. The Lord Jesus foretold this event. He foretold it to the apostles because he knew it. He knew it because he had ordained it as God. Now he hasn't foretold you and I all the circumstances of our lives, but he knows them. He knows them. He knows all things. Yes. He knows. He knows right now what we will be doing tomorrow at this exact time. We don't know. We don't know. We may have an idea, but we really don't know. And wasn't this just such a small thing, a man carrying a pitcher of water? And yet the Lord knew that he would be at that place at that time. You know, we think of the Lord in the big things of our lives, but really the small things make up the big things. And he knows everything about our lives. Just like he knew this man would be at that particular place at that time. He knows what you'll be doing tomorrow at this time. He knows what you'll be doing 10 years from now at this time. He knows everything about us. He knows who we will meet tomorrow if we leave our house, who we're going to meet. Maybe just a stranger on the walking path or at work or wherever. People just pop up and you meet them. He knows it. He knows it, yes. And if we don't leave our house tomorrow, He knows who may come to our door. He knows everything about us. This is how Romans 8 in verse 28 is true. If we love Him and are called according to His purpose, He makes all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. I want you to turn back with me to Psalm 139. How many times have we read this psalm and been amazed at our God, wondered at His omniscience? First of all, O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting, mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought aforeall. Not a word in my tongue, but, O Lord, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast set me behind and before and laid Thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's high. I cannot attain unto it. I cannot imagine, it's so wonderful, God's knowledge, His omniscience, that He knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning. If we could get a hold of this, this would solve a lot of the anxiety that that God's people suffer from and experience. God knows all about us, and he knows everything that's going to take place in our lives. His omniscience there is mentioned. And then, after that, his omnipresence is celebrated, beginning with verse seven. Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I send up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. God's omnipresence. Not only his omniscience in knowing everything, but his omnipresence in being everywhere. But notice especially, and this is the reason I asked us to turn here, in verse 17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee. How precious and how great are thy thoughts. How precious are his thoughts concerning each one of his children, and how many. And I named, wrote down a few things here, but his thoughts of his people were precious when he chose his bride. before the foundation of the world, when God chose his people, his thoughts were precious. And you know, we were chosen as a church, as the body of Christ. When a baby is conceived in the womb, the head is not conceived apart from the body, the baby is conceived. And the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is his body. And when God chose Christ, he chose His people in Christ at the same time. His thoughts are precious concerning His people. There are many, yes, but they're precious to think that He thought upon us before we had any existence, actually, except in His mind. He thought upon His people, and He thought good. He thought good for His people that He loved and chose. Isn't it amazing when you read in our Lord's Prayer in John 17, when he says that as the Father hath loved Christ, even so has he loved us. His thoughts are precious, they're many. His thoughts of his people were precious when the Lord Jesus Christ was in during the cross, despising the shame. Yes, his thoughts of bringing a great multitude of people before the Father, doing his Father's will. His thoughts of his people were precious when he entered into heaven to rule all things. Where is Christ today? He's at the Father's right hand, isn't he? But he's not just sitting there. Yes, he's exalted to the place of power, to authority, and he reigns and rules over everything. And he does so for the good of his church, for the good of his people. Let me give us a promise here, and I'm gonna close, but thinking about these thoughts, How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them. In Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 11, I know this promise especially was given to natural Israel, but it applies to spiritual Israel as well. God says, for I know the thoughts that I think toward thee. God's been thinking about you a long time. And he knows the thoughts that he thinks toward thee, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace. Thoughts of peace, and not evil, not bad, to give you an expected end. Let's, by God's grace, let's determine to remember these things, his thoughts concerning his people. When you experience something, Something that you wouldn't have chosen, most likely, for yourself. When you experience something, think of this. His thoughts concerning you are peace. It's not evil. Whatever happens to you in your life, just like that man carrying that pitcher of water, so small, so incidental, but yes, it was all part of God's purpose and God's plan. And the same thing is true of each and every one of us. Everything in our life, no matter how small it is or how big it is, it's all part of God's plan. His thoughts concerning His people are thoughts of peace and not evil, not hard things or mean things, no. It may seem to be evil to us at first, but it's not. It's not. God meant it. Just like Joseph, remember? What he told his brothers. That sold him into slavery. Ended up in prison. You meant it for evil. And they did. They meant it for evil. And they were guilty. And he didn't excuse them for their evil that they had done. But he did acknowledge you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. And that's the same thing about everything that happens in the life of one of his children. Maybe the world meant it for evil, maybe Satan meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. May the Lord bless His word to us here this morning.